


Gymnasium

by theoncomingwolf



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Ali and Cos are sisters and no one else is related, Alternate Universe, F/F, The soccercop thing is just kind of vaguely referenced, but present, fitness instructer AU, no clones AU, so I tagged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-06-27
Packaged: 2018-04-06 12:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4221009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoncomingwolf/pseuds/theoncomingwolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Delphine as a fitness instructor AU - Cophine</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gymnasium

**Author's Note:**

> Written forever ago to fill a tumblr prompt:
> 
> « Cophine, Delphine as a fitness instructor. Cosima goes to the gym to see her, under the excuse of working out. » — Anonymous  
> \- No-clones AU - Characters: Cosima, Delphine, Alison, and Beth - Ship: Cophine with a SC mention -

It’s Alison Who gets her to sign up initially. Cosima is all for staying fit, but her crunches and push-ups are enough to keep her in as much shape as she cares to be. If she wanted to be super healthy, she could run with Beth.

She does not run with Beth, however, a fact Alison notices. When she drags Cosima into the fitness center, she boasts about the quality of the gym and of its trainers. The bikes and treadmills are far better than running laps around the city, according to Alison. She’ll love it.

Cosima does not love it.

For one, there are the men who are either looking at her like she has no business being in a gym, or staring at her ass. Or both, like the first trainer who approaches her. He flirts with Cosima a bit, while being condescending. She’s not sure where he thinks that will take him. Eventually, she tells him to buzz off and heads for the treadmills, slipping in her earphones for a quick jog. 

She does, in fact, like it a lot more than running with Beth- whether that is due to the air conditioning, the absence of the inferiority normally caused by Beth’s calves, or some other factor, she does not know- but not enough to pay $50 a month for it.

When she’s puffed along for far longer than anyone really needs to run, Cosima swats the off button, hopping down from the still-moving machine and pulling her headphones off. Metric’s Gimme Sympathy shuts off abruptly to be replaced by the music in the gym- some pop song she’s never heard of that repeats the same three words six times in a row before she can get to Alison. Thankfully, the tune fades out to be replaced by some Pink song that she can kind of get behind.

Her sister is seated on a weight machine, pulling two bars down and crisscrossing them over her chest.

“Cosima,” Alison says, “if you ask me when we are leaving, I will sic Beth on you. That will not be more fun than this, I assure you.”

Cosima pouts at her, eyeing the weights nearby for something to do. Instead, she settles herself on a yoga ball behind Alison, kicking her feet back and rolling herself back and forth. 

“Need help with anything?”

It takes all of Cosima’s focus to not roll off the ball at the sound of the French woman; she plants her feet quickly on the floor and stands.

Delphine, as her name tag reads, is gorgeous. she has curly blonde hair pulled back into an elegant bun and somehow manages to rock the shorts and tank look like nobody Cosima has ever seen. They’re both pretty tight, which helps.

“Oh, uh,” Cosima says, eloquently; she reaches down to grab the heaviest handheld dumbbell of the selection laying near her feet and hefts it up and down with considerable effort, sure to smile as if the strain doesn’t affect her at all, “no, no, I’m good.”

Delphine smiles, clearly not fooled by Cosima’s attempt to look like she was doing any exercise at all.

“Hmm,” she says, glancing down at the considerable definition in Cosima’s bicep, “you’ve got that down, actually. If you’d like, I can help with other areas, like leg workouts or stretches, maybe?”

On one hand, Cosima does not want to work out any more than she already has; on the other, Delphine is hot and offering to stretch with her. 

Cosima nods.

Unfortunately, there is no actual stretching from Delphine; her job is to guide Cosima into painful positions with prodding and gentle touches at her ribs and waist. Half of this is nice, at least. Beauty is pain- a phrase her mother loved- springs to Cosima’s mind; if beauty is Delphine and Cosima’s inability to move despite the feeling of her muscles ripping apart is the price she must pay for her.

She internalizes any discomfort she feels from the prolonged, unnatural position and focuses on the soothing sound of Delphine’s voice and the feel of her hands on her back. It’s nice. Cosima reconsiders what she thought before about leaving and never coming back.

“We have to pick up my kids,” Alison says, cutting through Cosima’s peaceful, albeit somewhat unpleasant reverie.

“We?” Cosima huffs, lifting her head to glare at her sister; she’s standing, hands on her hips, next to Delphine, who has moved her fingers from Cosima’s back to greet the soccer mom.

“Well you were the one who wanted to leave. I have to go now, but you’re welcome to walk all the way back to your apartment.”

Cosima considers this. It’s pretty far; Since Ali drove her, she has neither her skateboard or her bike, and she didn’t think to bring any money for a cab.

“Can you ask your girlfriend to get me?” Cosima asks, flashing a quick, apologetic smile at Delphine for holding an entire conversation in front of her that she’s not a part of; Delphine waits patiently.

“Shes n-” Alison clicks her teeth shut, unwilling to have this conversation with her sister- again- about her relationship with the cop who moved in around the corner, “you want me to tell Beth you opted to pay money to exercise over jogging with her?”

Oh.

Alison, playing it dirty. 

“Goodbye, Delphine,” Cosima says, reluctantly, “see you later.”

“Goodbye, Cosima,” Delphine answers; Cosima’s heart jumps a little at the way the blonde says her name, accent separating it into parts.

“My girlfriend?” Alison mumbles, as Cosima climbs into the car next to her.

————

Shamelessly, Cosima returns the next day.

Well, maybe a little shamefully- she is not going to tell Alison about it.

She’s ahead on her classwork, she tells herself, and even if she doesn’t run into Delphine, she could use the exercise. The excessive glances for blonde, curly hair while doing very little physical activity, attempting to conserve her energy for a possible training session, make it very difficult to lie to herself further, however. Finally, while lifting an empty, 40 pound weight bar, she spots Delphine across the gym, chatting with a man Cosima recognizes quite well.

“Paul!” she coos, greeting Beth’s ex, “hello Delphine.”

Both heads turn in her direction. She hasn’t seen Paul since his short-lived thing with her friend Sarah a couple of weeks ago. 

“Hey… You’re Alison’s sister,” Paul says, “Cosima.”

She nods. Cosima knows very little about Paul, except that Felix doesn’t like him, Alison doesn’t like him, and, well, Felix’s nickname for the man, which is not unflattering; unless of course it means he is a big dick. She was never quite sure.

He’s somewhat polite now, however, catching the hint when Cosima turns her head towards Delphine; he excuses himself to use the treadmill, leaving them alone.

“Hey- uh- sorry I scared your friend away, Cosima says, faking sincerity.

"Your friend, it would seem; I just met him,” Delphine says, “did you want my help again today?”

Cosima waves to Paul as they pass, who raises his eyebrows at her in response, not moving his hands, which are gripping the treadmill bars.

She’s led to a corner adorned with some weight bars propped onto elevated racks and a mat. Delphine ducks under one of the bars, sidling it onto her shoulders and dropping into a crouch before coming back up. She replaces the bar and turns to face Cosima again, stepping out of the way.

Delphine has Cosima do the squats next. She manages to do about 20 before she has to put back the weighted bar. Cosima hopes that’s an impressive number because she really can’t take any more.

They finish with more stretches before Cosima has to go, needing time to get home and eat before the lecture she plans on attending that night, over Epigenetics. She mentions this to Delphine as she shakily stands and the blonde’s eyes light up with interest. 

“You are a student here?” she asks, “what are you studying?”

“Evolutionary Biology- Evo Devo- I’m getting my PHD.”

“No way!” she says, latching onto Cosima’s arm, “I am doing immunology! This job is just so I can pay for housing while I study.”

Cosima’s mouth falls open in a wide, excited grin. This woman is perfect. 

Delphine, unfortunately, refuses Cosima’s invitation to join her at the lecture as she walks her outside; she has work most of the night and then she has to finish a paper. 

“Another time,” she promises, brushing her fingers lightly over Cosima’s shoulder before heading back inside.

Cosima watches her go, then turns her attention to the bike rack on the curb. She lifts one leg experimentally and must lower it back to the floor before she can tip over; it is very apparent that she cannot bike home while her legs feel this much like jelly. 

Cosima runs through her few, very limited options before reluctantly taking out her phone to call Alison. Her sister answers on the third ring; Cosima can tell she’s in the car by how loud she’s speaking, as if Alison doubts the car’s microphone can pick up her voice very well.

“Hello, Cosima,” Alison says, “I’ve got my kids in the car- they just played very well at practice.”

“Hey Gemma, hey Oscar, good job,” Cosima says, taking Alison’s hint that she must limit her speech to what the little ones can hear, “Alison- is there anyway I can get a ride?”

“Where are you?”

“Uhh…” Cosima glances farther down the road, squinting to make out a sign in the near distance that she can get to before Alison shows up, “Noodle Swing?”

“You’re at the gym, aren’t you?” Alison says, “I knew you’d like it, you’re just too embarrassed to admit I was right. That or you wanted to see Delphine again.”

“Yeah, yeah, can you pick me up?” 

The chorus of voices on the other end of the line make it clear that she’s going to have to stay for dinner before her lecture.

——

Cosima stays away from the gym for a few days after that. Her legs are on far too much fire to do any physical activity beyond walking to class.

She wants to see Delphine again, though. It’s obvious from last time that biking there isn’t going to cut it if she wants any hope of getting back. Since she can’t keep calling Alison and Sarah and Felix don’t drive, she really only has one other option.

Beth keeps smiling at her on the way, saying nothing. It’s worrying. She and Beth don’t hang out very often without Alison and she knows the cop can’t be happy about Cosima opting to go with Alison to the gym over running with her, as she so often suggests they do, but she has yet to show Cosima any annoyance. She’s sure her silence is a mind game; it’s working, too.

“Fine, I give up,” Cosima groans, “what do you want from me?”

Beth laughs, straightening her beanie as she slows to a stop at the light.

“You’re going to ask hot gym instructor out,” she tells Cosima, “and then you’re going to quit Ali’s stupid gym and go running with me instead of paying money you could spend on dates to effectively get less exercise. Deal?”

“I missed the part where there’s an equal trade-off.”

“I go in with you and push you to ask Delphine out, I help you quit the gym despite all the guilting they will try to do to you, and you get to stay in shape by running with me and keeping me company, even though you slow me down. This completely works in your favor, Cosima.”

Beth parallel parks in front of the gym, in a tighter spot than Cosima thought possible, and is to the door before Cosima an protest her plan. Not that it’s a particularly bad plan, something she’ll never admit to Beth.

She stands with Beth at the door for a moment, spotting Delphine across the room. When the blonde spots her, she strides over. Cosima glances nervously towards Beth, who has crossed her arms behind her back, rocking on her toes.

“Hello, Cosima,” Delphine greets; she smiles at Beth, who takes her hand in greeting, introducing herself.

“Well, I gotta go talk to the front desk, if you’ll pardon me.”

Beth holds out a hand; Cosima presses her membership card and her credit card into her open palm so that she can go about cancelling her payment.

She turns around behind Delphine’s back, flashing Cosima two thumbs up before leaving them alone together. 

“Hey- uh- Beth’s making me quit,” Cosima shrugs, making an apologetic face.

“Oh,” Delphine says, sadly; Cosima doubts she’s so interested in her job that it’s losing a customer she cares about, “Beth is your sister’s friend? Who runs?”

“Yeah,” Cosima says, pleasantly surprised that Delphine paid enough attention to their conversations to remember that detail, “Delphine, I’d like to see you again- without having to use the excuse that I have some strange urge to stretch excessively.”

"I’d like that,” Delphine laughs, “I am going to a lecture tonight, if you’d like to come? A man I used to intern for is talking about Neolution. He’s a really great speaker.”

“I’ve heard of that,” Cosima says, “kind of Fringe, don’t you think?”

Delphine shrugs, glancing behind her shoulder when Cosima’s gaze drifts to the other side of the gym. Beth is returning.

“We can meet for dinner before, if you are up for it. Can I give you my number?” Delphine asks, turning back to face the brunette.

Cosima hands over her phone, so Delphine can key in her number. 

“I’ll see you later, then,” she says, leaning in to press a kiss to Cosima’s cheek, “Au revoir, Cosima.”

“Yeah,” Cosima breaths, face breaking out into an involuntary smile, “au revoir.”

**Author's Note:**

> Gymnasium Original Definition: To exercise naked.  
> Fun fact you get at the end of this.


End file.
